''Myshelovka'' (, ''Mousetrap'') is the third studio album by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n punk band

Grazhdanskaya Oborona Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская оборона, , Russian for ''Civil Defense'', or ГО, often referred to as ГрОб, Russian for ''coffin'') was a Soviet-Russian rock band formed by Yegor Letov and Konstantin Ryabin ...

. The album was released in 1987 and was recorded only by

Yegor Letov Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (, ; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian singer-songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (), as well as the founder of the con ...

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

. It was the first album from the 1987 album series (with ''Khorosho!!'', ''Totalitarizm'', ''Nekrofiliya'' and ''Krasny albom'').

Background

Letov was released from the

mental ward A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with c ...

in March 1986 and immediately began to write and record music. In 1987 he played a set with his friends from Pik Klakson band Evgeny and Oleg Lischenko under the name Adolf Hitler. When Letov returned home, he found out the authorities were going to put him to a mental ward again. Then Letov took an attempt to record all his songs on tape for three months (from May to July). He recorded new album on his own, and while he credited other musicians, his collaborators went under pseudonyms as Letov, because the original members of GrOb were forced to sign sworn statements saying that they would stay away from Letov. ''Myshelovka'' was recorded with minimal technology in Letov's apartment or the apartments of friends, that his apartment came to be known as GrOb Studio, or GrOb Records. Music verged toward

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

, noisy

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

, occasionally drawing inspiration from Russian

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

tunes. Lyrical themes on the album include

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

and

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

moods.Biography by Jason Ankeny // Allmusic
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Track listing

Personnel

Grazhdanskaya Oborona

– vocals, guitars, bass guitar, drums, production

Technical

* Konstantin Ryabinov (Kuzya UO) – photography, album design, remastering * Anna Volkova – photography * Andrey Kudryavtsev – photography * Yegor Letov – art design, album design, remastering

References

External links

Myshelovka
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

(list of versions)
Album on official site
{{Authority control 1987 albums Grazhdanskaya Oborona albums Russian-language albums